A United Methodist minister's musings on faith, culture and just about anything or anybody that strikes his fancy.

Concerning that little book o’ mine

A partial look at the chapters in my book, The View from Down in Poordom: Reflections on Scriptures Addressing Poverty.

Thanks to the generosity of GoFundMe donors, I raised the $1,600 I sought to salvage the manuscript of a book I’ve written, The View from Down in Poordom: Reflections on Scriptures Addressing Poverty. It has two sections, one on material poverty and the other on spiritual poverty.

I’ve contracted with one of the best of the Christian self-publishing companies out there, WestBow, to publish and market the book in print and online editions. At the rate the new editing process and some slight revising on it is going, the book will be on the market by early to mid-January (but quite possibly December).

Donations are still welcome at the GoFundMe site, by the way, to defray the $400 I ponied up out of my limited personal budget–I live a simple, heavily downsized life with few frills–to sign on with WestBow.

* * *

As readers will recall, I was let down and disappointed when publication of this book I’d put so much thought and work into fell through. Because it contains some timely topics about poverty (“Poordom” as I call it) and the struggles people stuck in Poordom deal with daily, I decided to go for it through the WestBow publishing alternative.

But because self-publishing companies require hefty fees for their editing, printing and marketing services, the $2,000 out-of-pocket cost to me was out of my reach.

So, again, I can’t give thanks enough to every donor who’s enabled me to pump new life into this publishing venture.

* * *

And here’s the proverbial silver lining in this. I thin–or I like to think–the revived manuscript of “The View from Poordom” is much improved since I’ve had some time to go back and tweak it. Also, as good as my editor was at the publishing company that went out of business, I have good, new editors to give it a fresh read and offer suggestions.

Not only that, a retired clergy friend, who is a talented pen-and-ink artist, is providing 10 illustrations that will “dress up” the book. Photos or illustrations naturally enhance the readability and market value of any book.

So what was a couple a months ago a big disappointment and rejection has turned out to be a blessing from on-high in disguise.

Thanks be to God and thanks for a little help from my friends and readers.